Erasure Poetry is fast becoming a popular form of poetry and if you are looking for a full-length book to get your teeth into, check out Frank Montesonti’s new book Hope Tree.

Frank Montesonti’s book is a wonderful example of erasure poetry and Frank makes clever use of his erasure and transforms the original book, How to Prune Fruit Trees into a fascinating collection of poems.

The book is available from Black Lawrence Press for a pre-sale price of only $9.95. Click here to get your copy.

Bright light,
plentiful mirrors
the long sweep of lace curtains.
Faces scattered,
people.
She played a running melody.
Swollen fingers
worked
her wrists and hands
dizzily.
The room
seemed full of people;
stupid people who made her play.
She played
through trembling limbs
and burning eyes;
played and sung
hoping to discover the secret.
Nervous,
she laughed
and thrilled out
into the air –
the day before the tennis tournament.

However small,
at first we reflect
with wonder
and astonishment.
We imagine
that each is
made up different.
They are great, good
and capable of feeling
pleasure and pain.
Every person ought to
avoid every kind of cruelty
to any creature –
great or small.

Found poetry is created by taking words, phrases, and sometimes whole passages from other sources and reframing them as poetry by making changes in spacing and lines, or by adding or deleting text, thus imparting new meaning.

Saturday night
was a big night at the drive-in.
Kids wandered around
in pyjamas until they crashed
full of chips, Pluto pups and fizzy drinks.
Teenagers got up to all kinds of mischief;
more than parents feared.

Patrons spent hours lounging
in camping chairs while
washing down takeaway meals
and snacks with beer.
Mattresses were thrown
in the back of utes and station wagons
for children
or lovers.

Everyone went to the drive-in.
Like stubbies and thongs,
it was made for Queensland.
Australia was outdoors
and mozzies,
the occasional storm,
and fogged windscreens
couldn’t dampen the night.

The screens have slowly darkened
and sites have been devoured
by mansions that sprawl where
cars once lined up.
Kids sat propped up on pillows to peer
over mum and dad’s shoulders.
Now they sprawl in front of a
smaller screen.